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Vista Home Premium/Duo V2 - mapped connection dropping
Hello--
Not sure where to start on fixing this. I've already Googled and tried a few solutions (including this one http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684) even though none seem to apply to my exact problem. Not surprisingly then, none has worked.
In a nutshell, I installed my ReadyNAS Duo v2 last September and have been using with no problem since then, until last week. Computer that has RAIDar installed is connected to router with ethernet cable and is a Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP2. The media share on the ReadyNAS is mapped as drive U. Firmware on the ReadyNAS is 5.3.7.
Now, in the last week, I will suddenly not be able to connect to it. I see the red X in My Computer, and when I click on it I get an error message that says an error has occurred while reconnecting to U:\\NAS-AO-46-4E\media , The connection has not been restored---for one of three different reasons. #1 is the one that most commonly displays: 1) The local device name is already in use; 2) The network path was not found; or 3) The specified network name is no longer available.
Repeatedly clicking on the drive in My Computer, it eventually connects, but it does not stay connected for long. (Or sometimes it does, this is very randm.) For example, after it is a connected I rip a CD just fine, then immediately start ripping a second CD, and the first few tracks I get an error that the ripper was not able to write to the file because the filepath U:// whatever is not available. But by the 5th track (usually) it will start writing to U again. (Then I have to quickly re-rip the first 4 tracks--frustrating!)
I would think this is purely a Windows Vista problem, but one more clue. While the drive shows as disconnected, RAIDar will find it, but when I try to log into it to manage it, my browser (Chrome) says website is not available, the server refused the connection.
A few additional details. 1) While all this is going on, the ReadyNAS never stops streaming music over my wireless network to a player, so I know it is still connected. 2) There have been no changes worth noting, just the usual Windows updates. Nevertheless, for the heck of it I tried doing a system restore to a restore point from a month ago. That didn't solve the problem (although it did create others, like Chrome stopped working.) 3) When I couldn't log in using RAIDar I tried typing the IP address of the ReadyNAS into my browser, and couldn't connect to it that way, either.
Anybody have any suggestions what I can try? I'm glad my music is streaming, but this disconnecting/reconnecting while trying to rip CDs is driving me crazy!!
Not sure where to start on fixing this. I've already Googled and tried a few solutions (including this one http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684) even though none seem to apply to my exact problem. Not surprisingly then, none has worked.
In a nutshell, I installed my ReadyNAS Duo v2 last September and have been using with no problem since then, until last week. Computer that has RAIDar installed is connected to router with ethernet cable and is a Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP2. The media share on the ReadyNAS is mapped as drive U. Firmware on the ReadyNAS is 5.3.7.
Now, in the last week, I will suddenly not be able to connect to it. I see the red X in My Computer, and when I click on it I get an error message that says an error has occurred while reconnecting to U:\\NAS-AO-46-4E\media , The connection has not been restored---for one of three different reasons. #1 is the one that most commonly displays: 1) The local device name is already in use; 2) The network path was not found; or 3) The specified network name is no longer available.
Repeatedly clicking on the drive in My Computer, it eventually connects, but it does not stay connected for long. (Or sometimes it does, this is very randm.) For example, after it is a connected I rip a CD just fine, then immediately start ripping a second CD, and the first few tracks I get an error that the ripper was not able to write to the file because the filepath U:// whatever is not available. But by the 5th track (usually) it will start writing to U again. (Then I have to quickly re-rip the first 4 tracks--frustrating!)
I would think this is purely a Windows Vista problem, but one more clue. While the drive shows as disconnected, RAIDar will find it, but when I try to log into it to manage it, my browser (Chrome) says website is not available, the server refused the connection.
A few additional details. 1) While all this is going on, the ReadyNAS never stops streaming music over my wireless network to a player, so I know it is still connected. 2) There have been no changes worth noting, just the usual Windows updates. Nevertheless, for the heck of it I tried doing a system restore to a restore point from a month ago. That didn't solve the problem (although it did create others, like Chrome stopped working.) 3) When I couldn't log in using RAIDar I tried typing the IP address of the ReadyNAS into my browser, and couldn't connect to it that way, either.
Anybody have any suggestions what I can try? I'm glad my music is streaming, but this disconnecting/reconnecting while trying to rip CDs is driving me crazy!!
19 Replies
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- I'd submit a support request at support.netgear.com.
Also, take a look at the disk SMART stats, and see if are any hints in the logs in general.
Did anything else change on your network? Having duplicate IP addresses can create a lot of havoc. - The logs all say the same thing: system power on scheduled for [time/date], with the next entry being system is up. Those two entries repeat over and over, no problems (I do have the ReadyNAS on a schedule where it is off several days a week).
The smart stats for each disk are almost identical, as follows:
SMART Information for Disk 1
Model: WDC WD10EFRX-68JCSN0 931 GB
Serial Number: WD-WMXXXXXXX
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
SMART Attribute Raw Read Error Rate: 0
Spin Up Time: 3416
Start Stop Count: 533
Reallocated Sector Count: 0
Seek Error Rate: 0
Power On Hours: 741
Spin Retry Count: 0
Calibration Retry Count: 0
Power Cycle Count: 104
Power-Off Retract Count: 95
Load Cycle Count: 437
Temperature Celsius: 28
Reallocated Event Count: 0
Current Pending Sector: 0
Offline Uncorrectable: 0
UDMA CRC Error Count: 0
Multi Zone Error Rate: 0
ATA Error Count: 0
I have thought about the duplicate IP address issue, but don't know how to go about assigning the ReadyNAS a fixed address outside the range the router is handing out on the fly. Can you point me to a thread with instructions on doing that? - So the disks look good.
On the IP address - if all your devices are using DHCP then the most likely cause of an address conflict would be if you sleep your PCs. Though this is not all that likely, it is possible.
Can you let us know what IP address your NAS has now, and also what model router? - StephenB, thank for trying to help, and yes I can answer those questions. Right now the ReadyNAS is at 192.168.11.2, and it has had that address every time I've looked. The laptop I'm on right now connected wirelessly is at 192.168.11.5, there's a Roku at .10. My wife has a tablet, but she was gone with it today when the problem was happening.
Other wireless devices (printer, Logitech SBT and Duet) I have assigned static IP addresses to outside the DHCP pool the router uses, to avoid any conflicts. For example, the printer is at .75 and the SBT is at .85.
The router is a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54.
I'm happy to answer anything else you think might help. - The best way to assign IP addresses is to manually reserve them in your router, and not change the client's IP configuration to static addresses. That is described on page 30 of your router manual (http://www.buffalotech.com/support-and- ... .5-web.pdf). Then if you ever change routers, you maintain connectivity even if the new router doesn't use 192.168.11.x addresses.
Though it doesn't sound to me like you have an IP address conflict.
Are all your connection drops happening when you use WiFi? - One thing I forgot to mention is that a few days ago when I first started trying to solve this, I did access the router settings, and told it to assign the 11.2 address to the ReadyNAS as a manual address. Duh, sorry. I didn't think an IP conflict was the problem, but I figured it was worth a try. I did it by intuition, but have now confirmed per page 30 of the manual I did it correctly. No effect on the problem. (By the way, the link you posted is the quick set-up guide, no page 30. But I went to Buffalo's website, got the manual, and confirmed that I did the right thing.)
So, there are other wireless devices in the house that are getting dynamic addresses, but if the router has 11.2 manually reserved for the Duo v2, shouldn't be a problem, right? (Spouse has her tablet on right now, it's at 11.4; laptop I'm on is again at 11.5, like it was last night.)
I'm not sure what you mean by Are all your connection drops happening when you use WiFi? so maybe I didn't explain my problem clearly. The desktop computer I am using to access the ReadyNAS and the ReadyNAS are side-by-side, both physically connected to the router with cat5e or whatever it is. It is that computer that keeps saying that the connection to drive U has not been restored, then restoring it, then dropping it again, etc. On one occasion I sat staring at the "My Computer" window and watched the drive go from red X to green and then cycle back and forth between red & green about 4 times in the span of a minute or two. That (along with no drops in wireless music streaming from the files on the ReadyNAS, and RAIDar finding the drive) is a sign that makes me think this is purely a Windows OS problem. Another thing that makes me think it is Windows is Googling "mapped network drive disconnects" and seeing how many problems there are with this, although most seem to involve Windows 7 or some other flavor (maybe because I'm the only one stupid enough to be using Vista? :) ) There seem to be a variety of reasons it happens, but none of the scenarios seem exactly like mine. Biggest difference is, they all seem to involve disconnect when drive has been idle for a time interval like 15 minutes, or at boot-up. Mine can happen, like I said, within seconds of finishing ripping a CD to the drive.
For troubleshooting purposes, when the desktop computer is showing that the drive's connection has not been restored, would there be any value in going to the laptop computer (wirelessly connected) and trying to browse to the drive's IP address to see what result I get?
Correct. Technically all the addresses are dynamic, with the router managing the assignments. That is one benefit of doing it in the router, and not assigning addresses in each device.ReadyNASty wrote: So, there are other wireless devices in the house that are getting dynamic addresses, but if the router has 11.2 manually reserved for the Duo v2, shouldn't be a problem, right? (Spouse has her tablet on right now, it's at 11.4; laptop I'm on is again at 11.5, like it was last night.
This helps. WiFi connectivity of course can be blocked by interference, etc. and I wanted to confirm that that the basic issue here is over ethernet. There are probably some ethernet stats on the v2 (I don't own a v2, so I don't know how extensive they are). Your router also keeps some stats (pg 54). It would be helpful to look at both."I'm not sure what you mean by Are all your connection drops happening when you use WiFi? so maybe I didn't explain my problem clearly. The desktop computer I am using to access the ReadyNAS and the ReadyNAS are side-by-side, both physically connected to the router with cat5e or whatever it is. It is that computer that keeps saying that the connection to drive U has not been restored, then restoring it, then dropping it again, etc. On one occasion I sat staring at the "My Computer" window and watched the drive go from red X to green and then cycle back and forth between red & green about 4 times in the span of a minute or two. That (along with no drops in wireless music streaming from the files on the ReadyNAS, and RAIDar finding the drive) is a sign that makes me think this is purely a Windows OS problem. Another thing that makes me think it is Windows is Googling "mapped network drive disconnects" and seeing how many problems there are with this, although most seem to involve Windows 7 or some other flavor (maybe because I'm the only one stupid enough to be using Vista? :) ) There seem to be a variety of reasons it happens, but none of the scenarios seem exactly like mine. Biggest difference is, they all seem to involve disconnect when drive has been idle for a time interval like 15 minutes, or at boot-up. Mine can happen, like I said, within seconds of finishing ripping a CD to the drive.
It could be helpful, as it isn't clear at this point what is going wrong. It could be a problem with the router, the NAS network interface, the PC network interface, or even a bad cable.For troubleshooting purposes, when the desktop computer is showing that the drive's connection has not been restored, would there be any value in going to the laptop computer (wirelessly connected) and trying to browse to the drive's IP address to see what result I get? - Well, I can rule out the cables, because I swapped in two brand new Cat6 cables tonight, and it didn't change a thing. But I think I now have a clue what the problem is. Tonight, after some intermittent problems, the ReadyNAS disconnected and would not reconnect.
RAIDar finds it, but when I tried to connect to it using the "setup" button in RAIDar, I got this message:
This webpage is not available
The webpage at http://192.168.11.2/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
Error 103 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_ABORTED): Unknown error.
So I went to the laptop downstairs, typed the ReadyNAS IP into the browser, and got this:
This webpage is not available
Google Chrome's connection attempt to 192.168.11.2 was rejected. The website may be down, or your network may not be properly configured.
Here are some suggestions:
Reload this webpage later.
Check your Internet connection. Restart any router, modem, or other network devices you may be using.
Add Google Chrome as a permitted program in your firewall's or antivirus software's settings. If it is already a permitted program, try deleting it from the list of permitted programs and adding it again.
If you use a proxy server, check your proxy settings or contact your network administrator to make sure the proxy server is working. If you don't believe you should be using a proxy server, adjust your proxy settings: Go to the Chrome menu > Settings > Show advanced settings... > Change proxy settings... > LAN Settings and deselect the "Use a proxy server for your LAN" checkbox.
Error 102 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED): The server refused the connection.
Soooooo, I went back upstairs and turned off the Windows Firewall in the computer that has the ReadyNAS as the mapped drive. BINGO! Instant stable connection to the ReadyNAS as network drive mapped a U. My guess is, there has been some update to the Windows Firewall, or to Trend Micro Internet Security which "optimizes" the Windows Firewall instead of having its own, that has caused this problem to rear its ugly head. The question now is how I go about fixing it. My crystal ball says I am going to get in the situation where Netgear says (and I can't blame them) that it's Trend Micro's fault, and Trend Micro says it's Microsoft's, and Microsoft says it's Trend Micro's, and so on and so on. - Is Windows classifying your network as "public"? Or "home" / "work". The firewall rule set up on my win7 machine limits SMB inbound to "private"networks (home or work).
Open the firewall control panel app, and select "advanced settings', then "inbound rules". If you scroll down, you should see a couple of rules labeled "Printer and File Sharing (SMB-in). I see three profiles - 1 private, 1 domain, and 1 public. The one that is active at the moment (if any) is shown in green. Make sure the rule for your network class is enabled. - Since Vista and Win7 are different, I've had to follow your suggestions above as closely as I can. First, Windows does see my network as private, not public--no need for a change there. Second, as far as I can tell, there is no advanced setting--inbound rules for the Vista firewall. There are simply options to enable/disable. I have (and had) printer and file sharing enabled.
I also went to the list of program exceptions to be allowed through firewall. There is a program listed as allowed called Monitor ReadyNAS Device. I tried to add RAIDar as an allowed program, but it said "error, already in the list of exceptions." So I'm thinking Monitor ReadyNAS Device must be RAIDar, one and the same.
The subject of ports is way over my head, but I'm wondering if adding some port the ReadyNAS uses to the exception list could be a fix. Also, there is an option to turn the firewall off for the local area network. I wonder if that would fix it. Googling on this subject, everything says don't do it, it's a security risk. But I don't see how that can be when spouse and I are the only ones using the LAN.
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